A cooker, and more particularly, an outdoor cooker, for example a barbeque grill, is a relatively popular cooking device. A typical barbeque grill, for example, provides cooking heat from below where the food it to be cooked and is generally fueled from natural or propane gas or charcoal.
Different cooking techniques may be used to cook using a barbeque grill. For example, grilling often refers to using a barbeque grill where the food is cooked using a high heat from a low-smoke fuel (e.g., propane or natural gas) for a relatively short time and wherein a cooking flame directly contacts the food. Another cooking technique may be referred to as smoking, wherein the food is cooked at a relatively low temperature for a relatively long time over indirect heat generated from a relatively high-smoke fuel (e.g., charcoal). The cooking flame, if any, generally does not directly contact the food being cooked in the smoking technique.
Unlike a natural gas or propane gas based barbeque or cooker, regulating a cooking temperature within a solid fuel cooker, for example, a charcoal-based cooker may be relatively difficult. For example, with respect to a charcoal cooker, it may be particularly, difficult to achieve a relatively constant desired temperature for a relatively long duration as when using the smoking technique. A longer duration cooking time, for example greater than six (6) hours may be particularly desirable for cooking a larger amount of food, for example, a turkey or other large amount of meat using the smoking technique. Additionally, a longer duration cooking time may be desirable for slow-cooking, such as for example, brisket or pork.
Several charcoal-based cookers attempt to regulate temperate while sustaining charcoal burning, for example. One such cooker is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,985 to Huneycutt. The Huneycutt cooker discloses a thermostatically controlled charcoal cooker that is includes a heat sensitive spring coupled to a set of valve. The valves are opened and closed based upon heat sensed by the heat sensitive spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,301 to McNeil discloses a barbeque accessory to sustain charcoal burning. More particularly, the McNeil patent discloses a loop received into a heat chamber of a charcoal barbeque grill and that rests on a bottom edge of the charcoal barbeque grill. The loop has opening therein. Charcoal is positioned outside the loop.
To provide improved temperature regulation, for example, to retain moisture, several charcoal-based cookers use different materials rather than metal. For example, the Big Green Egg available from Big Green Egg, Inc. of Atlanta, Ga. uses a ceramic chamber to retain heat and maintain food moisture. However, such cookers are generally relatively expensive and often require the purchase of a new cooker to obtain the regulated temperature for long duration feature.